Chandigarh, October 25
Arrangements are in place for new Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s swearing-in at Panchkula tomorrow. The BJP will form the government in the state for the first time after a scintillating performance in the Assembly polls.

The ceremony, which promises to be a gala affair, will see Khattar — the first Punjabi and a non-Jat Chief Minister in 18 years — taking the oath of office and secrecy along with at least 8 ministers at the HUDA Ground in Sector 5.

Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki Khattar will administer the oath to Khattar in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a host of NDA leaders and many BJP workers.

Sources said apart from Khattar, eight ministers are likely to be sworn in tomorrow. The Haryana Cabinet, which can have a maximum of 14 members, would be expanded later, sources said.

Khattar remained busy in discussions with senior BJP leaders, including BJP president Amit Shah, in New Delhi today to finalise the names of his Cabinet colleagues to be sworn in. The party top brass has zeroed in on the names of Capt Abhimanyu, Ram Bilas Sharma, OP Dhankar and Anil Vij. They are likely to be inducted into Khattar’s Council of Ministers. Unconfirmed reports, however, said Dhankar may be made the state unit chief in place of Ram Bilas Sharma to ‘mollify’ Jats.

Two-time MLA Kavita Jain and former minister Rao Narbir Singh are also among the probables who are set to take oath tomorrow.

The names of Banwari Lal and Santosh Sarwan are doing the rounds from ‘the Dalit quota’ as nine of the 47 BJP MLAs in the 90-member Assembly belong to the Dalit community.